Citigroup is the most-shorted stock on any major U.S. exchange. Its position at the top of the pack is due to the bank's stock price and ongoing concern about its balance sheets and mortgage foreclosure practices.
The number of default notices, scheduled home auctions and repossessions declined significantly in February as banks begin to take a more measured approach to foreclosures amid government probes. But the lower numbers are likely only temporary.
As if we needed more proof of the outlaw actions of banks and their agents, The Baltimore Sun reports that 1,000 or more Maryland deeds are likely forgeries created by a foreclosure mill. If the accusation is true, the false deeds will create a nightmare for the innocent people who bought the homes.
HSBC announced late last month that it had put all of its U.S. foreclosures on hold to review their documents -- back in December. So why are its lawyers still pushing cases ahead? HSBC also says it doesn't robo-sign. So why does its annual report mention foreclosure document problems that sound so much like those caused by robo-signing?
All across Florida, courts are starting to clear their overwhelmed dockets by dismissing foreclosure cases the banks have failed to prosecute. In one division of one of Florida's 20 judicial districts, perhaps as many as 2,700 cases have been set for dismissal in one week.
HSBC got plenty of attention when it disclosed that it had suspended foreclosures in its annual report Monday. But its not the only bank whose annual report made for interesting reading. The risk disclosures in banks' annual reports shed some light on their attitudes toward the mortgage mess.
Foreclosures nationwide have exposed a swamp of fraudulent documents, but in many parts of Florida, courts have been letting banks ignore the law with impunity. Now, moves by Florida's Supreme Court and its state bar association may finally start cleaning up the fraud there by holding banks -- and lawyers -- accountable.
Among the state systems governing foreclosure, Hawaii has a particularly fraud-riddled, draconian process. Elderly Suzanne Bonds was unbelievably exploited by that process in 2004, but Hawaii's courts refused to help. Now, her attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
A California appeals court has ruled that U.S. Bank conned Claudia Aceves out of her home by tricking her into giving up her bankruptcy protections. Now she can sue the bank for damages and fraud, and conceivably, so could other homeowners in similar situations.
As multiple lawsuits and SEC actions progress in relation to the nation's mortgage mess, it's becoming clear that the misbehaviors of the lawyers involved at all stages were not isolated incidents: The misconduct was systemic, and it's time to start holding those lawyers accountable.
Yet another problem has begun surfacing in the documents banks have been using to foreclose on homes: false notarizations. Notaries have been attesting legally to signatures they didn't witness, sometimes by people who didn't actually sign, and it's adding to the tangled mess of ownership confusion.
Lee County, Florida has become infamous for the "rocket docket" -- its system of speeding foreclosure cases through the courts. DailyFinance spoke with the Lee County Clerk who says the super-charged system was his idea.
After an exhaustive examination, DailyFinance's legal reporter comes to a clear verdict. Banks have done three things to create the massive glut of foreclosures choking America's legal systems and laying waste to its real estate markets.
A top Massachusetts court has criticized banks for their "carelessness" during the securitization of mortgages in the state. But interests supporting the banks have issued their own messages -- trying to minimize the court's decision.
